Male chick from Pitt peregrine nest on Banding Day, 21 May 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
24 May 2025
On Thursday I wrote about the Pitt peregrine banding on 21 May — see story & photos here — but I did not include a photo of the unusual prey item Patti Barber found at the nest. It was the skull of an American woodcock (Scolopax minor), a “timberdoodle.”
I have never seen a woodcock in the city and certainly not in Schenley, the nearest park to Pitt’s campus. Schenley’s habitat is not suitable for woodcocks but they do court, and therefore breed, at North Park’s Upper Field.
American woodcock among fallen leaves (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
In spring and fall American woodcocks migrate at night, passing over the City of Pittsburgh on their way.
I imagine this one was flying above the Cathedral of Learning one night when the peregrines saw it lit by the building lights and flew up to get it. Yes, peregrines do hunt at night if there’s abundant prey and enough light to see it.
Prey item from Pitt peregrine nest: American woodcock collected on Banding Day 21 May 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
At study published in 2006 documented peregrines hunting at night at the Empire State Building and in 2019 Jeffrey Ward took a video of one hunting in the 911 Tribute Lights in New York City. See the details at the links below:
If this woodcock was attracted to the Victory lights the lights would have cycled and released him within the hour. But with three hungry mouths to feed, the peregrines didn’t wait that long. 🙂
Patti Barber hands first female chick to Kate St. John, 21 May 2025 (photo by Kim Getz)
22 May 2025
After yesterday morning’s downpour, three healthy chicks were banded at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest. Two already looked much larger than the third and their weight confirmed it(*). Two females and one male.
Both parents, Carla and Ecco, have experienced Banding Day in prior years so they knew what was coming when they heard us talking indoors. Carla circled ahead of time and watched us through the blinds. Soon the PA Game Commission’s Patti Barber retrieved, banded, and weighed the chicks while Carla and Ecco continued their vigil. The chicks were returned to the nest within half an hour. Here are the highlights:
Carla, Downtown Pittsburgh behind her (photo by Mike Faix, National Aviary)
Someone is watching us (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Ecco (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Carla circling and shouting (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Carla (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Carla (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Meanwhile, Patti Barber, PGC, collects the chicks (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera)
Carla at the nest without chicks (National Aviary snapshot camera)
First female chick (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
First female chick (photo by Mike Faix, National Aviary)
The handoff. (photo by Britta Moletz, National Aviary)
Bands on second female chick (photo by Mike Faix, National Aviary)
Patti Barber, PGC, holds male chick (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Patti Barber w/ male chick (photo by Kate St. John)
Delivering chicks back to the nest (photo by Kim Getz)
Releasing chicks at the nest (photo from National Aviary snapcam)
Banding visit is over (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera)
Carla has the last word (photo by Kim Getz)
Normally I take a lot of photos during the event and blog about it on the afternoon of Banding Day but my hands were busy at the banding. Patti asked me to hold the chicks while she banded them, a new experience for me. Photos at top and below.
Kate St. John holds female chick on Banding Day at Cathedral of Learning, 21 May 2025 (photo by Megan Hinds, National Aviary)Kate St. John holds female chick while Patti Barber prepares bands (photo by Jeff Cieslak)First female chick maxes out the scale, 21 May 2025 (photo by Mike Faix, National Aviary)
For ease of identification on camera, Patti Barber put colored tape on the chicks’ USFW bands.
These baby birds are in for a surprise this morning.
Today is banding day for the peregrine falcon chicks at the Cathedral of Learning. The event is closed to the public (the room has a very strict occupancy limit!) but you’ll see some of the action on the National Aviary falconcam.
The first hint will be the sound of “kakking” as Carla and Ecco react when Patti Barber of the Pennsylvania Game Commission goes out on the ledge to retrieve the chicks. Carla may even jump into the nest to guard her youngsters.
The chicks will receive health checks and leg bands and be returned to the nest in less than half an hour.
Stay tuned for photos from the event and an update on who’s who.
p.s. Expect to see wet birds and wet people! More than 1.8 inches of heavy rain are expected today in Pittsburgh and we are under a 24-hour Flood Watch. Here’s our radar just before 7am. The Cathedral of Learning is in the center of the map, just under the “tt” in the word Pittsburgh.
This week we have news from seven peregrine nests in the Pittsburgh area: Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning, Downtown, East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Sewickley Bridge, Monaca-East Rochester Bridge, Tarentum Bridge, and Westinghouse Bridge. (UPDATES at 5pm from Downtown Pittsburgh and Monaca-East Rochester Bridge.)
Cathedral of Learning, Univ of Pittsburgh:
The Pitt peregrine chicks are 21 to 24 days old today. As they grow up, Carla makes sure everyone gets his/her fair share of food. She fills up the big sisters first, then focuses on the smallest chick (probably male). If a pushy big sister snatches the little guy’s food, I’ve seen Carla take it back and give it to him.
Three chicks, one adult at Third Avenue peregrine nest, as seen from Mt. Washington, 18 May 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Today from the Mt. Washington overlook I saw three chicks in the Third Avenue peregrine nest in Downtown Pittsburgh plus one adult perched above them. They appear to be about the same age as the Pitt peregrine chicks so they will probably fledge around the same time in early June.
East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh:
Female peregrine on the East Liberty Presbyterian steeple nest, 29 April 2025 (photo by Adam Knoerzer)
This week the Pittsburgh Falconuts Facebook page has a photo of three chicks and an unhatched egg in the East Liberty Presbyterian Church steeple nest. Confirmation at East Liberty, hooray!
Sewickley Bridge, Ohio River:
Sewickley Bridge, Feb 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Great news! Gene Henderson digiscoped the nest yesterday during a 7:48am feeding at the Sewickley Bridge. He counted 3 chicks and got photos of both parents, embedded below from eBird. So we have confirmation at Sewickley!
The male perches on top of the bridge …
… while the female feeds their three chicks.
Monaca-East Rochester Bridge, Ohio River:
Monaca East Rochester Bridge, 2012 (photo by PGC WCO Steve Leiendecker)
Today Jeff Cieslak visited the Monaca-East Rochester Bridge and noted a peregrine perched nearby as if watching its nest. He investigated and found two chicks perched in the under-structure of the bridge at one of the peregrines’ typical nest locations.
Chicks at the Monaca-East Rochester Bridge, 18 May 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Dave Brooke predicts the three peregrine youngsters at the Tarentum Bridge will be ledge walking this weekend. Visit the Tarentum Boat Ramp under the bridge or the riverside park. Click here for the map.
Westinghouse Bridge, Turtle Creek near Monongahela River:
Peregrine circling near the Westinghouse Bridge, 17 May 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
Dana Nesiti saw activity at the Westinghouse Bridge yesterday that indicates there are young in the nest. He saw a peregrine circling above the bridge, then watched food arrive and the male and female trade places. Their favorite move when they leave the ledge is to jump up to the handrail and both of them did it yesterday. Notice the size difference and their toes/talons.
Male flies out of the scrape to the handrail. Look at those toes! 17 May 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)Female flies out of the scrape to the handrail. Look at those talons! 17 May 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
Rt40 Bridge West Brownsville, Monongahela River:
Pair of peregrines at Rt.40 Bridge over the Monongahela at West Brownsville, week of 12 May 2025 (photo by Regina Mowl King)
News from West Brownsville, PA was troubling in March when one of this peregrine pair was found injured and sent to rehab. But now in May, Regina Mowl King reports there’s a pair at the bridge, seen in the photo above. Do they have a nest with young? Wait and see.
SUMMARY FOR SOUTHWEST PA:
All the peregrine sites are listed in the table below. Except for those mentioned above, there is no recent nest news from any other site. Help fill in the blanks below by visiting a site near you. Leave a comment if you find anything!
Remember when we watched Schenley Park’s great horned owls from late winter into early spring? Great horned owl fledging season is long past but woodland “earless” owls have just reached fledging time in Europe and North America. Let’s take a look at the family life of two species.
Tawny owls in Europe (Strix aluco) and barred owls in North America (Strix varia) are in the same genus Strix, the “earless” owls that inhabit forests, parks and suburbs. They resemble each other in appearance and breeding behavior. Both nest in tree holes, on snags or in structures such as nest boxes.
In the U.K. tawny owls reached hatch time in early to mid-April. This video posted on 17 April by Robert E Fuller shows three eggs hatching at a tawny owl nest in Yorkshire, UK.
By late April, tawny and barred owlets were half grown. Here’s an evening feeding early this month at the Wild Birds Unlimited Barred Owl nestcam in Indiana. As the video begins you can hear one of the parents hooting.
This month barred owlets in North America’s mid latitudes are “branching” before they fly. This 7-minute video shows a barred owlet doing some risky maneuvers in the trees.
Usually we can’t see the chicks during feedings at the Pitt peregrine nest but yesterday evening at 6:30pm Carla stood in the back of the nestbox and faced the camera while all three chicks stood in a row to grab food from her beak, and from each other. See their 10 minute feeding in the video below. Here are some things to notice.
The two larger chicks are 17 days old, the smallest is 14 days old. At this point their size difference is a good indication of sex: the two largest are probably female, the smallest is probably male.
Notice that the small chick grabs the food before his sisters can and sometimes has a tug of war with one of them. In a couple of weeks, just before they fledge, I bet he’ll grab the entire meal and mantle over it.
Near the end of the feeding when the sisters are not hungry they move away and Carla feeds the small one exclusively.
Standing up. They walked to get here, 7 May, 11:38a
Sitting like 3 Buddhas, 7 May, 4:47p
11 May 2025
Between last weekend, 3 May, and middle of last week, 7 May, the Pitt peregrine chicks grew from a huddled mass to sitting Buddha shapes as shown in this slideshow.
At Kiberg, Norway a building’s exterior was refurbished to house kittiwake nests. As of 25 March this year, the Kittiwake Hotel was fully booked.
The Kittiwake Hotel is fully booked! So cool to see the new hotel being appreciated ?? Built by the local fishermen in Kiberg. We designed and helped to give the project wings, with $ help from a seabird science project. Good conservation with a solid local component… pic.twitter.com/8qw4nJqXKS
— Biotope / Tormod Amundsen (@Biotope_Tormod) March 25, 2025
Kiberg has a human population of about 200 people.
It seems there are more kittiwakes in Kiberg than there are humans. 🙂
*A NOTE ON NAMES: In Europe these birds are simply called “kittiwakes” but North America there are two species: black-legged and red-legged kittiwakes.
When I stopped by Duck Hollow early this week I was amazed to see so few mallards and all of them male when only a month ago I saw many more ducks and both sexes. The difference now is that female mallards are on eggs. The males have nothing to do. They never incubate and they don’t help raise the kids.
Last month each female mallard chose a nest site under overhanging vegetation, typically on the ground and typically near water, where she laid a clutch of 1-13 eggs. She incubates the eggs for about 28 days and when she reappears she’ll have ducklings in tow. At night she will brood them until they’re two weeks old.
Experimental evidence has shown that mallards may be able to assess mammalian predator risk by detecting the animals’ urine at potential nest sites.
Urban mallards sometimes nest on woodpiles, on buildings, and on artificial structures such as docks and boats. Not the female in a planter shown above.
Unlike wild mallards, urban mallards will re-nest if the first clutch is destroyed or if all chicks are lost to predation. They even raise second broods if they are in unnaturally crowded populations. (*So this is a puzzle: They are overcrowded yet they raise a second brood anyway. Why?)
It is rare for a female to abandon her nest during incubation but is common under crowding and in urban populations. (Crowding makes them crazy?)
In the coming weeks mallard eggs will hatch and families will appear on the water. Watch for scenes like this at the end of May.
Happy news from four peregrine nests in the Pittsburgh area: Cathedral of Learning, East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Sewickley Bridge, and Tarentum Bridge.
Cathedral of Learning, Univ of Pittsburgh:
Ecco and Carla have three fluffy chicks ranging from 8 to 11 days old. In the photo above, Carla is about to retrieve yesterday’s evening meal while all three stand up to wait for what comes next. Food!
Female peregrine on the East Liberty Presbyterian steeple nest
Just before the big storm hit on Tuesday 29 April, Adam Knoerzer watched the East Liberty peregrines and captured photos and video. The female waited at the nest while the male went out hunting.
Peregrine hunting from East Liberty Presbyterian steeple, 29 April 2025 (video by Adam Knoerzer)
And then the sky got really dark just before the storm hit. Yikes!
Sky in the northwest behind East Liberty Presbyterian Church, 29 April 2025 around 5pm (photo by Adam Knoerzer)
I believe the eggs have probably hatched by now at East Liberty. More news later.
Sewickley Bridge, Ohio River:
Female feeding young at the Sewickley Bridge nest, 3 May 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Happy news at the Sewickley Bridge! Jeff Cieslak reports that the eggs have hatched! As of 3 May the female peregrine was feeding young in the nestbox. The male watched from the top of the bridge.
Male peregrine watching at the Sewickley Bridge, 3 May 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Tarentum Bridge, Allegheny River:
3 chicks at the Tarentum Bridge, 2 May 2025 (screenshot from Dave Brooke via FB)
At the Tarentum Bridge three chicks looked to be about 22 days old [not 25] on 2 May per Dave Brooke‘s video. Check out the nestbox from these vantage points.
SUMMARY FOR SOUTHWEST PA:
All the peregrine sites are listed in the table below BUT YOU HAVE TO SCROLL to see them. Except for the nests mentioned above, there is no news from any other site except for Downtown where I hope to scope the nest area from Mt Washington today. (Ack! Running out of time before I leave for Magee Marsh so, no, I won’t get there this week.)
Help fill in the blanks below by visiting a site near you. Leave a comment if you find anything!
